The Good Wife
by Anna Hurley
Summary: Marian is a good wife. As Lady Gisborne she understands her place. She is a good wife. Except in the darkness of the forest when she awaits her lover. Except when she's not. AU
1. Chapter 1

The Good Wife

Authors Note: Okay so this is in my head and I had to write it, I'm not sure if it's a one shot or weather or not I will write more. You guys will have to tell me. So please review.

**The Good Wife**

Lady Marian Gisborne does not want for anything. In the new England, where nobility no longer buys you power or respect or security she is one of the lucky few. Her husband's friendship with the Sheriff of Nottingham and thus with King John has earned her a life that will never see a wave, nor a disruption, she will live in peace and comfort until she takes her last breath, for that she is grateful.

Her husband is a good man. He treats her well, every night when he returns home he bring with him an expensive gift, sometimes jewellery, sometimes one of the many horses she so adores, and a kiss on the lips. He loves her; that much is painfully obvious, sometimes his intensity scares Marian for she knows she is not just his wife or his lover, she is his _obsession._

Marian knows the responsibility of being Guy's wife is great. He is second to the Sheriff, who in turn is second to the King. She is married to one of the most important men in all of England and she knows she must behave as such. Her usual pursuits are abandoned, she no longer uses her body as a physical weapon, she does not practice with a sword or bow and arrow, nor does she use one of her many horses, her many gifts, to gallop wildly through the greenwood. That is the stuff of men. She understands that.

Learning how to cook and embroidery was not an easy task, especially when she had to do it under the nose of her new husband; he thought she knew how to do all of these things. In truth, these were crafts she should have learned as a girl, but she had been a stubborn child, growing up without a mother she had been more inclined to play with the young boys then to sit and learn to sew and her father had allowed it, he could not deny her. She wore her mother's face.

Guy had also been kind in providing for her father, now old in age. He had found a nice home for him to live, a maid to wait upon him and men to protect him from the dangers of the woods.

Yes, Marian had a good home in Locksley, a fine husband who loved her, precious jewels, pretty dresses, and a father who was well cared for, she does not want for anything. She is a good wife.

Marian hears one of her maids approach; she turns from the view of the kitchen window and saw Jane enter holding Marian's most precious gift, her daughter, Lucy. Jane bows to her and greets her formally, as is insisted upon by the Lord of the Manor, before she hands Lucy to her mother's waiting arms. Marian takes her child greedily and dismisses Jane.

She does not thank her.

Marian smiles down on her young daughter who smiles back at her with adoration her blue eyes sparkling. Lucy's birth nearly a year ago seemed to solidify Marian's position of superiority in the new England, an heir to the Gisborne legacy. Guy was ecstatic to learn of Marian's pregnancy and began full preparations for the birth of his son. To say he was disappointed was probably an understatement, he had longed for a son to carry on the Gisborne name instead he got a daughter, but he could not stay too angry she was still a Gisborne and she too wore the face of her mother.

Lucy rests her head against her mother's chest and in doing so gives Marian a sense of peace that only she can provide. People say Lucy wears her mother's face; there has not been even a whisper of her resembling her father since her birth. This is both a shock and a relief to Marian, she sees Lucy's father more then she sees herself. Her traits are obvious, the dark curls, the smooth skin but her father is there too, the angle of her cheeks, the shape of her eyes and that glint that sparkles in them.

In Marian's eyes, Lucy wears her father's face.

Marian watches as the sun sets and knows it is time for her to prepare for dinner and her husbands return home. She sighs as she realizes she has left her preparations too late, again. She calls for Jane and hands Lucy to her with a departing kiss to her head.

Marian makes her way to the kitchen which holds two different cooks and a series of servers. Lady Gisborne has one of the staffs in all of England. Lady Gisborne does not want for anything. She instructs the cooks to prepare her husbands favourite as the servers go about preparing the dining room. Once she is satisfied that everything is in order she retires to her bed chamber to change and dress in an attire she knows her husband will prefer to the green dress she wears now.

He has never liked her in green.

Jane has laid out a dark red low cut dress on her bed. Jane, a loyal servant, knows her husband's tastes well as does his wife. She knows this dress will satisfy him, even encourage him to try and conceive the son he so desperately wants. She sighs as she dresses and fixes her hair in a bun on top of her hair. When she has finishes she comes downstairs where Jane awaits her, she tells her that she has put Lucy to bed. Marian nods and Jane is dismissed.

A nod is the best that Jane can hope for.

A servant pulls out a chair and Marian sits and takes a sip of the wine that another servant, Theresa, has poured. The warm liquid is soothing and she relaxes into the chair as she awaits her husband's return. Time passes and the moon is high in the sky when she hears the sound of hooves on the ground, she straightens her posture in the chair. He didn't like it when she slumped.

Marian waited for her husband to walk through the door but instead she heard a knock. Nodding towards Theresa, she went and answered the door, returning moments later with a folded piece of parchment. Marian doesn't need to read it, she already knows what it says but she does anyway.

"Theresa," she says, "Please inform the cooks that my husband has been kept at the castle and will not be returning tonight. I shall be dining alone."

Theresa nodded and scampered off to the kitchen as Marian gently folded the parchment and placed it on the table. Marian knows the words written in her husbands hand are a falsehood. He is not needed at the castle Marian knows this is an excuse to see his mistress and work out his frustration that he has not conceived a son with his wife despite weeks and weeks of trying. She takes a sip of her wine and her dinner is brought to her, she eats it without the shame of knowing that her husband is betraying her. Marian is a good wife, she will not confront him; she will allow him his affair because she knows she will never have to deal with the public humiliation. His mistress will never carry a child with the Gisborne lineage. She cannot.

Marian finishes her meal and announces her intention to retire for the night. She leaves the servants bowing as she ascends the stairs. She checks on Lucy, who is sleeping soundly, she kisses her forehead and she departs not wanting to wake her precious gift.

Marian silently enters her bed chamber and finds that she is not alone. Jane is there, dressed in Marian's night gown, her long dark curls, so similar to Marian's, flowing down her back, in her hands, she holds a servants dress of a plain green.

Marian smiles.

She rushes to Jane and embraces her. In public all Jane can hope for from the powerful Lady Gisborne is just a nod and cool indifference, in private she can receive anything from her close friend Marian.

Jane helped Marian dress in the plain green and helped her as Marian made her escape down the greenery that has attached itself to the former manor of Locksley now known as Gisborne, though she can't bare to call it that. In the darkness she rushed to the stables where she finds her horse, Vesper, already saddled and waiting to go, bags of food attached to him. She smiled and mentally she thanked Theresa.

Mounting Vesper she sent the horse into a gallop, bursting out of the stables. Any who saw her, in her simple dress would think she a servant sent on a daunting task by the Lord and Lady Gisborne not the lady herself. She drives her trusted horse faster and faster, keeping a trained eye on the moon. He will not be there forever. She gives her horse one more kick and although seemingly impossible Vesper quickens her pace, understanding the importance of her mistresses journey.

Into the dept of Sherwood Forest Marian manoeuvres Vesper around the various traps despite her speed. Mistress and animal have travelled this road many times before. Marian slows her horse as she nears the familiar spot; the water is what she sees first, the moon beams dancing off of the glistening surface. Marian looks around frantically trying to calm her frenzied heartbeat as she checks the position of the moon, which is slowly beginning to disappear behind a mass of dark clouds.

She's late. He's not there. She cannot see him. Had she been wrong about him? Her throat threatens to close and she feels the familiar catch in her chest as a sob begins to emerge but before any tears could fall he appears before her. Like a ghost from the shadows. He smiles at her and she smiles back. Frozen in place as they most once again acknowledge that fact that before the sun rises she will be back on her horse and leaving him.

Robin of Locksley. He was a crusader, the Earl of Huntingdon, Lord of Locksley Manor and the man she was once engaged to marry, but that was before the uprising, before King John stole the throne from Richard the Lionheart and began to choke the country. He is now Robin of Sherwood, Robin of the Hood. An outlaw. A Threat. The greatest hope England has left.

Robin Hood.

Robin was one of the many who fought for Richard, fought and lost, just as her father had. Most who had fought for Richard were hanged immediately, Robin and a few others managed to escape with Richard, get him to safety so one day they could take England back and restore it to its former glory. He had sworn to her he would rescue her father from the gallows but she knew his first priority had to be Richard so she had to save her father and the only way to do that was to give her hand to Guy of Gisborne.

Her father now lives in a hut under house arrest, surrounded by guards who are there not to protect him but to make sure that Robin or the rest of the rebellion do not liberate him.

She slips from her horse, removes her wedding ring and walks towards him; he smiles at her, that mischievous glint, the one he shares with his daughter, dancing in his sparkling blue eyes. He embraces her and she rests her head on his chest and she feels loved and at peace. Only Robin and their daughter can make her feel like this.

She tells him off the food she brought, food he will deliver to the people as she cannot. She would not be granted a reprieve if her kindness was discovered. She is already the daughter of a traitor and holds the love of an outlaw; she must be as cruel as her husband if she is to spare her father and her daughter.

Robin tells her he does not care for the food tonight. He hasn't seen her weeks; Guy has made sure of that. It is a welcome relief to Marian not to have to share her husband's bed. After two years she still shivers and recoils from his touch, but she knows he will return, he wants a son, but she knows that he will never have one.

Lucy may bare the Gisborne name but she is not a Gisborne and neither will any other child Marian bares. Guy of Gisborne cannot have children. They will all be of Robin's blood.

Robin smiles at her, "How is my daughter?"

"Well, she's like you."

Guy never asks of Lucy's wellbeing when she is not around whereas it is something Robin needs to know ever second of every day. He wanted her to run away when she found out she was pregnant, to come to the forest with him but she could not abandoned her father and even though it angered him, Robin understood.

In a world where loyalty no longer means anything, it is something they can not afford to lose.

Robin pulls at the string around her neck and from the corset of her dress comes a leather pouch. His eyes twinkle as he opens it and pulls out her green engagement ring, the one he gave her. He slides it on her finger, it matches her dress.

He has always loved her in green.

Robin kisses her softly, lovingly; it is nothing like how Guy kisses her. Guy's kiss is a mark of ownership, showing that he owns her whereas Robin's reminds her how she holds his heart and how he holds hers.

Their kiss deepens, hands explore each other's bodies as they begin to shed their clothes and the clouds cover the moon, hiding them from sight. Sometimes Marian interprets this as a sign, that God, or the universe or whatever unknown power exists wants them together. As she does.

As they fall to the ground Marian thinks about how she always intended to be true to her vows to Guy. To be a good wife. How hard she tried to resist Robin and her heart and her body's desire for him, but she could not. Everybody has a weakness and he is hers just as she is his.

As their love making comes to an end and she lies in the grass, entangled with her lover, Marian wonders if perhaps Guy will have his son after all and she wonders if Robin will be able to survive another of his children calling Guy of Gisborne father.

Her thoughts end when she feels light feathered kisses on her neck, Robin smiles at her and again they continue, giving themselves to each other in every way they can.

Marian is a good wife. She is obedient. She cares for her husbands needs above her own. She never speaks out of turn or asks for anything. She understands her place and her place is a step behind her husband.

Marian is a good wife.

Robin kisses her as they make love.

Except when she's not.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Good Wife**

**Chapter Two**

The soft sound of the trickling waters is a comforting sound to Marian. In the darkness of Sherwood, her knees clutched to her chest, a thin blanket wrapped around her body and with the dancing moon beams shining down on her Marian feels at home.

She is a woman of luxury, of nobility, she has everything she could everything want and yet all of her luxuries are nothing but gilded prison bars and Marian would chose the cold forest floor and scratchy blanket every time.

Without hesitation.

Marian curls her hair around her finger and she smiles as she feels Robin rise next to her. She looks at him and blushes at the way he looks at her, for some reason, even after all these years, even after having a child together, Robin can still make her feel like the same thirteen year old girl being kissed by the boy she likes for the first time. It's fitting, she thinks, that Robin was that boy.

Robin tucks her hair behind her shoulder and begins kissing her neck. Slowly, sensually. Marian closes her eyes as she relaxes into her lover. Robin caresses her face as he kisses her and lowers her back to the grass.

This is what Marian thinks of when Guy lowers her down on their marriage bed. As her husband takes what he needs from her, she thinks of her lover, of the man she longs to be with, the man she wishes was touching her.

Marian tries to think of a time when she once tried to enjoy her _relations_ with her husband. Tried to take pleasure in his touch and his whispers, she had willed herself to love him, but she could not. It didn't take long for her to take her rightful place in the rebellion, to seek out Richard and his army. Despite the fact that they had evaded capture, even to this day, it had not been difficult to locate them, all she had to do was ride through Sherwood and wait.

It had taken all day. Just sitting on her horse and wandering through the thick greenwood, she didn't dare call out in case they were slightly less friendly beings lurking in Sherwood's dept, but eventually her patience had been rewarded. Out from the trees appeared Much and a fellow she now knew as Little John.

Little John had not trusted her. She could see it in his eyes the second he had made himself known, holding his staff menacingly and looking down at her with his intimidating height. Much had not exactly given her a warm welcome either, he felt betrayed too of course. If anyone slapped Robin, a thousand miles a way Much would still feel his pain. And Marian had betrayed Robin, she had broken her word to him, she had married another, married a man he detested. Much felt that as much as Robin.

"I want to help."

This apparently wasn't the right to say.

"Help?" Much exclaimed, "Help! You want to help! You married Gisborne! Gisborne! He's the worst thing going, he's as bad as the sheriff! Worse maybe! Yeah, worse! And you married him! Married!"

"I understand that Much, I had no choice I had to protect my father-

"Everything is a choice, everything we do, isn't that what you always say?"

She hadn't heard him approach, hadn't seen him in the shadows. But she shouldn't have expected too, people said he was a ghost, said he could walk through walls. She should have known he would be close by, he and Much were always together.

Suddenly he was around her, his body close to hers, she could feel his eyes on her, striping her of her well created façade, seeing through her wall of carefully crafted expressions and chosen words, everything that prevented her from falling apart.

"You married Gisborne, you had a choice and you made it the second you stepped into that church."

"And now I am in the perfect position to give you what you want." She snapped finally looking at him, meeting the eyes of the man she loved for the first time since England had crumbled with the aid of her new husband.

"What I want?" he said with a patronizing grin crossing her arms over his chest, "And what exactly is it that I want?"

"Richard back on the throne. Guy trusts-

"Guy?" Robin spat the word with a hallow laugh.

Marian closed her eyes, Robin was not making this easy for her but she supposed if the situation was reversed, neither would she, "He trusts me, he thinks I'm his meek, obedient wife who worships the ground he walks on, I can get any information you need, everything you need to stop the sheriff and remove John and restore England."

Robin looked to Much and Little John who seemed to be very aware that they were caught in a spat between two former lovers but were trying there best to hide it.

"Why should I trust you? How do I know that you're not Gisborne's meek, obedient wife and this is just a lovely honey trap?"

"Do you think I'm capable of that?" she asked feeling tears build in her eyes that she pushed by, she wouldn't show weakness, not to anyone, not even Robin.

"I didn't think you were capable of what you've already done." He whispered before sighing and looking to the ground, "You want to help us?"

"I do."

Robin looked at her for awhile, weighing her up, measuring her recent betrayal of him against what she could do for England and for his cause. He looked to his men who had not moved since they had appeared to Marian, "Lads?"

"She is a Gisborne." Was all Little John could say of her.

"It's your choice Master."

"Prove yourself. What do you know?" Robin asked her.

"Guy knows you're hiding here, the sheriff is borrowing men from the Lords of the shire and from _King _John, he's planning on cornering off every section of the forest, searching it methodically for your camp and leaving guards in every sections so your movements are always restricted and he forces you into one place."

"He's told you this?"

"Yes and I've seen the map, I can make a copy and give it to you, that way you know their movements."

"Alright, tonight and if this pans out I know I can trust you." He said as he, Much and Little John began to disappear back into the forest.

"Wait! How will I find you?"

"I'll find you." He said as he disappeared back into his new home. It took seconds for Marian to call Much back to her and ask him to make sure he was the one who would always hear her information, she wanted to be his informant. She didn't exactly trust herself alone with Robin.

She returned to her husband and found the map in his private study, made her copy and returned to the forest and delivered it into Much's waiting hands, with Robin watching from behind him.

"I love you," Guy whispers as their _love making_ ends and he lies next to her, his eyes drooping with sleep.

Marian knows she should respond, assure him of her non existent love, continue to solidify her position as his wife and as such a spy for the rebellion but she can't, not now. It's bad enough that she must share her body with the man who has crushed her dreams and hopes a thousand times over, a body that does not belong to him, but those words, those three little words that mean too much, the words that only Robin should hear, she can't say them, not tonight, she's given too much.

Guy is asleep within moments. The Outlaws struck again, stole money that was intended to buy the loyalty of Leopold of Austria to John in the instance that Richard should – will – regain control. The Fake King fears Richard's army, he fears the Prince of Thieves, he fears Robin Hood and this theft has only caused his fear and paranoia to grow. He takes it out on those who are most loyal to him, Guy and Vaisey, they too are now suffering under his tyrannical rule but they make their peace with their exhaustion by reminding themselves that John gives them power, Richard would give them a noose.

Once she is satisfied that Guy will not awaken, Marian moves from his bed and with a shiver slips on a silky gown to shield her naked body. She looks at her sleeping husband and in an unspeakable thought thinks of how easy it would be to kill him now.

Marian tried to have faith in him once, tried to believe that his obvious feelings for her would awaken some dormant goodness in him, but it's been years and her faith has weakened. It was impossible for her to keep it strong when even after Lucy's birth Guy could so callously order the death of children. The birth of her child has caused her not to hope for someone to miraculously change their ways, Guy has chosen his path and it is one of evil. Her hopes for him to become a better man could not change that.

Everything is a choice, everything we do. He made his choice, she had made hers and for that choice she must leave him alive even if at times his actions make her fear for her child's life.

Marian leaves the bedchamber and walks down the hallway to Lucy's bedroom, her three year old daughter is sleeping soundly, her dark hair sprawled out on her pillow. Marian smiles and sits on her daughter's bed as she strokes her long hair and she thinks back to when she gave up trying to resist Robin.

She'd been a spy for months, providing information that always helped the outlaws and make The Fake King look like a fool in front of the Lords. She'd always travel to the lake in the forest, speak with Much and Robin, sometimes even Little John who had grown to trust her. One night when she had made her way to the lake, Much or Little John were not there.

It was only Robin appearing out of the darkness like the ghost the people claimed he was. The fear she felt in her stomach was so consuming she almost turned and fled, afraid of what might happen with no buffer between her and her former fiancé.

"Where's Much?" she asked trying to appear nonchalant.

"Not here," he said leaning up against a large oak tree, "And neither is Little John." He finished knowing exactly where Marian's line of questioning was headed. Marian closed her eyes, Robin always said she could see into his soul, did he not realize that he could do the same to her?

"Why are you so afraid to be alone with me?"

"I'm not," Marian said more forcefully then she intended, more defensively.

"Really? Then why did you ask Much to always be the one to come see you? You should have waited a bit longer if you hadn't wanted me to hear."

Marian turned from him and cursed herself silently, she made her request to Much without even checking if Robin was still close by, with all this talk of ghosts she had just assumed he would have disappeared the second the trees hid his retreating form.

"Because I know we would argue."

He laughed. "Marian there hasn't been a day since we met when we haven't argued and you've always seemed to enjoy them. Marian, if I deserve anything it's the truth, why?"

Marian felt the familiar catch in her throat she knew that if she looked at Robin she would lose her composure, she would finally let herself feel what she had forced under the mask of Lady Gisborne, she couldn't allow that. She couldn't but yet…

"I don't want to get hurt."

"What?" Robin asked with a hint of anger in his voice, "You think I would hurt you?" she felt him move from the oak, heard his footsteps as he came closer to her, felt his hand on her shoulder as he turned her and forced her to face him, she felt the tears finally be released, "You think I'd hurt you, hit you?"

"No," she said her voice breaking, even in the darkness of the night it was now obvious that she was crying, emotions she had tried to hide fighting their way to the surface. "It hurts Robin, every time I see you…it hurts, it hurts so much and I can't stand it, I can't stand being near you, not touching you and then going back to a house I should be living in with out, to a husband whose look and touch I can't stand, seeing you hurts, knowing everything we lost, hurts…it just hurts."

Her face was sprayed with tears, her voice hoarse, Robin brought his hand to her face, she moved backwards, he followed, "Robin…" she pleaded, "I'm married."

"Stop me," he said, "I've seen you fight, I know you can, just stop me." He moved her back against a tree, he took her tear streaked face in his hands and he kissed her, hard, passionately, hungrily, lovingly. Marian kissed him back.

It was the first time in a long time that she felt something, something real. She was married, she wanted to be true to her vows but they were vows made under duress, under a falsehood, they weren't real, her marriage wasn't real.

Robin was.

Her hands were in his hair, she was kissing him back with equal fury, somehow their positions had changed, he was against the tree now, she was clawing at his clothes, he at hers. Marian suddenly didn't care anymore, not about her appearance, her façade, her husband, there was only Robin and the knowledge that she loved him, wanted him, needed him.

A good wife would feel shame or regret but Marian felt none of those things, she is not a good wife.

She looks at Lucy with love and gently brings her hand to her stomach and a sweet touch to the new life that is growing inside. Robin's child. Guy shall not suspect the gap in the dates, he is too prideful to ever think that someone else could have fathered "his" children. He is a fool.

But then again so is everybody else.

Lucy stirs and her eyes open and she greets her mother with a tired smile.

"I'm sorry my darling, did I wake you?"

"No mommy," she replied sleep coating her voice, "I had a dream."

"A bad dream?" Marian asked worried.

"No, a good dream, it was about daddy, he took us away from here and all the bad men." She said with child like belief that her dream would one day become reality, but Marian knew that Guy of Gisborne would never take Lucy away from this heinous place.

"Oh, that's a lovely dream," Marian said with a sad smile.

"When's daddy coming for us?"

Marian's brow furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"When he visits me, daddy always says he's going to us away to a better place, away from Guy and the mean sheriff." She says dozily.

The fear rose in Marian faster then ever before, had Robin really risked everything?

"And do you talk to him?" Marian asked trying to mask the fear in her voice.

"No, he thinks I'm asleep, I just listen."

"Have you told anybody else about this Lucy?"

"Just you mommy," she yawned and before Marian could press her daughter any further Lucy was asleep.

Marian frozen with fear stayed in the bed for the rest of the night. Robin had never told her that he visited Lucy, not once and now Lucy knew about him, knew the truth about her father, she was three years old for God sake, she could tell anyone.

She could tell Guy.

She had to find Robin.

**RHRHRHRHRHRHRH**

I feel that I should point out that as I am writing this, I am unbelievably sick and medicated so if there are mistakes that's why.

Also thanks to the people who reviewed this story, your encouragement really made me want to write a second chapter so review again and we'll see how I go with three.

Anna.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Good Wife**

**Chapter Three**

The road is bumpy and uneven and every few minutes Marian has to cling to the side of the carriage in order to keep her on the seat. She hates this road. Hates travelling it, hates what waits at the end of it. She can never travel it without fighting an overwhelming desire to be sick. The carriage jolts Marian uses one hand to cling to the side and rests the other on her slowly expanding bump. Her pregnancy has just been announced. The whole of Nottingham now believes that she is carrying Guy of Gisborne's second child. They all know she is to be a mother again.

Robin now knows he is to be a father again.

Marian closes her eyes. It was a cruel way for him to learn of her pregnancy. Through the whispers of the Lords and people of Nottingham, she should have told him herself but she was too angry, too prideful. Too Marian. What Robin had done in visiting Lucy had been reckless and stupid; he could have endangered all of them. He didn't think of the consequences of his actions, he just acted and it could have cost them all their lives.

The confrontation had not exactly been easy.

Marian closed her eyes as the carriage hit more bumps along the dust road and she remembered that fatal night two months ago.

A week after Lucy's revelation when Guy had finally left the security of the manor to deal with the sheriff and the false King, Marian had dressed in one of Jane's dresses, saddled Vesper and rode into the depths of Sherwood Forest. He was waiting for her. As usual.

He turned from the lake and smiled at her. She hadn't intended to. She had wanted to deal with this argument rationally, not through arguing as they had always done. She wanted, for once, to act like an adult in Robin's presence. But the second she saw that cheeky grin on his face and that familiar look in his eyes. The second she saw how carefree he seemed to be she snapped.

She slapped him.

"_How dare you!"_ she spat rage coating her every word. Robin recoiled, his hand instantly going to cheek as he stared at Marian in shock, "_How dare you!"_ she cried as she moved to strike him again, her anger and her sense of betrayal overriding her rationality, Robin caught her hands with his and swung her around, her back against his chest, her arms crossed in front of her, locked firmly in his embrace.

"Marian," he whispered, "Calm down." It was the same voice he always used in his attempts to sooth the wildness that lived in Marian's heart, attempts that usually worked, but not this time. Marian stamped on his foot so his grip on her arms loosened and she shook herself free of him.

"Alright, as much as I love you when you're angry this seems a little uncalled for," he was still grinning despite the injuries.

"Uncalled for," she whispered in anger as the tears built in her eyes.

"Marian," he said with half a laugh and half a sigh, "What is I've supposedly done?"

"_Lucy!"_

She spun to face her lover, the father of her daughter and the child that still grew inside of her, and she saw him freeze, his cocky grin slip from his face as the impact of that single word washed over him.

Lucy.

Robin looked to the ground, "How…?"

"Lucy told me, as easily as she could have told Gisborne or the sheriff or any of a number of people she comes in contact with everyday."

Robin ran his hands over his face, "She's always asleep…"

"Apparently not," Marian fired back at him, "How could you have been so stupid? You could have cost us all our lives! You could have wiped out the rebellion, everything we've been fighting for in one single strike!"

Robin didn't look at her, he turned away on her so he was staring at the reflective surface of the lake. All of a sudden he was different, he was not the over confident leader of the outlaws, not the captain of Kings Guard, not the man who was loved most by the King and knew it, now…now it was as if he were nothing at all, he looked vulnerable but Marian's anger had clouded her judgement, what she saw she took no time to comprehend, she glossed over it and allowed her anger at him to take control.

"You could have ruined everything." She said with finality.

"I'm Robin Hood," he said looking at her with sad eyes, "I'm an outlaw, my home is gone, my land, my people suffer everyday, I'm hunted, my friends are hunted, they die and I have to stand there and grit my teeth through it all," he started to move towards her his voice growing, "A man I despise lives in my house, is married to my lover, do you think it's easy for me? Watching you go? Knowing that you're going back to him, knowing that he can have you anytime he wants, touch you, kiss you, make love to you,"

Marian twirled away from him, running her hand through her hair and knocking away tears from her eyes, she didn't want to hear these things, this trip, this fight wasn't about her and the choices she had made, it was about Robin and his decisions.

"It's not! Nor is it easy for me to watch my daughter call someone else father. She's three years old and I've never even held her."

"These are the sacrifices we have to make."

"All I wanted was to see her," he said in a broken, hallow voice, "Just to see her."

"And in doing so you could have destroyed the very foundations of the resistance. You could have died." She said anger slipping back into her voice, at that moment she did not care of everything Robin had been denied, she cared about what they fought for, what so many risked their lives for, what Robin could have so easily broken.

"And it would have been worth it."

The carriage came to a sudden halt and Marian's eyes snapped open, she stepped out of the carriage and onto the muddy ground as she tried to push the memories of that night away, push away everything that Robin had said.

An armed guard walked towards her as two others took up position in front of the door of the small hut. Marian raised her hood as a small shower of rain began to fall. She put on her usual façade as the guard stopped in front of her.

"Lady Gisborne, we did not realize you were coming today." He said formally.

"I did not feel the need to inform you" she said pushing passed him and walking towards the small hut. He grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks. Marian eyed him, her blue eyes hardening with the ferocity that made her formidable as Lady Gisborne.

"Countess, your husband has insisted upon us being informed of any guests, for security purposes." He said nervously.

"Captain," she said quietly, dangerously, "Am I a security risk?"

"No-

"Do you think I'm a spy?"

"No! Of course not," he stuttered realizing his mistake.

"And for what reasons should you be informed of all my comings and goings?" she whispered an edge in her voice that made the captain wonder if he should reach for his sword.

"Countess, your husband-

"I shall deal with my husband Captain and," she moved closer to him, "If you _ever_ lay a hand on me again I shall see to it that you lose it, do you understand?."

He let go of her arm and nodded, "Welcome Countess,"

"Thank you Captain," she smiled sweetly as she pushed passed him and the two guards that stood by the door, she made her way inside the hut and froze as the cold breeze grazed her skin, if it were possible it was colder inside then it was outside. She pulled her robe tighter around her body as she turned the corner into the only room of the hut.

The room was small, smaller then any room at Locksley - or Gisborne – there was a straw bed, a little fireplace, that wasn't lighting, a few cabinets, a wooden table and two chairs and sitting in one of those chairs was Edward, Marian's father.

Marian felt her breath catch in her throat. Seeing her father like this, always broke Marian, he looked so old, so broken and so vulnerable not at all like the strong man she had grown up with, not at all like the Sherriff he used to be.

"Father?" she whispered.

Edward's back straightened and for a moment he did nothing and then, shakily, he stood and turned. Marian gasped. Her father was pale and around his neck was a bandage stained red. "What happened?" she demanded as she ran to him, gently placing her hands around his neck, "Did the guards do this to you?"

"No, no, Marian, it…it was just an accident, I fell…"

"On a knife?" she demanded as she began to unwrap the bandages to further examine the wound. As the flimsy cloth fell away Marian saw, with horror, that the wound cut straight across her father's neck. The guards, she knew, if they had been ordered to kill him they would have finished the job, so this wound had to be self inflicted.

"You did this to yourself," she gasped tears springing to her eyes, "Father, why, why would you do such a thing?"

Edward smiled sadly at her as he sat back down on his chair Marian sitting in the other as she clung to her father's arm, her heart pounding in her chest as her unshed tears began to blur her vision.

"Father, please, tell me!" she begged him.

Edward looked away from her and Marian could see the shame in his eyes, he was a God fearing man and suicide was such an unthinkable act Marian couldn't think of what would drive him to it. His life was not ideal, in fact Marian would admit that it was horrid but it wouldn't drive him to suicide. Would it?

When he looked back at her, his eyes went straight to her swollen stomach and he smiled, "Look at you! Glowing!" he lowered his voice, "Robin must be thrilled."

For a moment Robin's face flashed in her mind, and she wondered what he had felt when he'd heard she was with child. "I don't want to talk about him," she whispered furiously, "Father, you tried to kill yourself, why? Why would you do this? Why-

Marian stopped talking once she realized how her father was looking at her, with tear filled eyes. A lump rose in her throat as she pulled away from her father, "Me. You did this because of me."

"Marian," her father pleaded, "I don't want to talk about this."

"Well I do!" she yelled, "You will tell me, _everything_."

Edward looked away from her again, took a breath and began to speak, "You are meant to be with him, you know that, you always were, even when the both of you were children I could see it, that there was something there, that something would happen. I wasn't surprised when you told me he had proposed, or that you had accepted. You were supposed to be together and you're not because of me. You married another man because of your loyalty to me, because of your desire to protect me. You have a child with him, a child he's never seen, because of me."

"Father,-

"You wanted me to speak so you shall let me finish." He said, "When I heard you were with child again, I knew that it was his and I knew that you two would still be apart and I knew that it was because of me. I thought if I was no longer a factor, then, well he'd take you away, and perhaps you could, at they very least, have some of the life you were meant to lead."

"Every decision I have ever made has been my own, everything is a choice and I chose my life, I chose my husband and you must never feel guilty for that. They were my choices, _mine,_ and you must never sacrifice anything, least of all your life, for that." She said.

"A parent makes sacrifices, it's what we do, what we will always do, no matter what that sacrifice may be." He said smiling, "But enough about this dreary business tell me how is my granddaughter?"

The carriage ride home was no less bumpy and Marian cried the entire way. Her father had tried to kill himself, for her. And he was willing to do it and the more Marian thought of it the more she worried he would try it again, because as much as she tried not to she couldn't block out the conversation she'd had with Robin the night she'd confronted him.

She closed her eyes.

"And it would have been worth it."

"How can you say that? There are limits sacrifices we make for our children!"

"No, there are none."

The rest of Marian's day passed in a blur, she could barely remember returning from her father's, barely remember sitting down to dinner, brushing Lucy's hair or sending her to bed. Her mind was filled with the ugly cut that ran across her father's throat and the words that Robin had said to her.

She stood in the doorway and watched as Lucy slept, her hair spilled over her pillow, her thumb stuck in her mouth. So innocent, so blissfully unaware of the horrors of the world she had been born into. A world her father was trying to make better.

She hears Jane's soft footsteps approach her and turns to look at her. Her only friend is dressed in a plain dress, a cloak wrapped around her shoulders. She has the familiar look on her face, that familiar question in her eyes. Marian glances between Jane and her sleeping child and in a matter of seconds, her father's throat flashing in her mind, Robin's words ringing in her ears, she made a decision she wasn't sure she'd regret in the morning.

She saw the lake faster then she expected to. She'd been thinking of the consequences of her decision but despite all of the flaws in her judgement she couldn't bring herself to stop Vesper and turn around.

He was there, as usual, he moved out from the thick trees of the forest, like a ghost from the fog, and said; "Jane I…" whatever the ending of that sentence was Robin never spoke it and Marian never heard it, upon seeing his lover who he know knew to be carrying his second child, after a two month absence he grew silent.

Marian wasn't quite sure what to say, her actions had been despicable and she was aware of that and she knew that no words could make up for that so she simply slid from her horse to the ground and carefully removing her long cloak revealed her travelling companion.

Lucy.

Even in the darkness of the night she could see the look of surprise on Robin's face as she took Lucy in her arms and lowered her to the ground. The little girl looked around her, slightly weary of her new surroundings and the man in front of her whom she did not recognize.

Robin didn't move.

Marian crouched down next to Lucy, gave her a kiss on the cheek and whispered, "Why don't you go give your father a hug?" Lucy looked at her mother, with her father's eyes, almost as if she was seeking confirmation that this was the man who had been visiting her while she slept. Marian smiled at her.

Lucy looked from her father to her mother and with a sudden determination set off over the soggy grass towards Robin. Robin crouched down as she approached him, he smiled at her, tears in his eyes.

"Hi, Lucy," he whispered, "Look at you, look how gorgeous you are,"

Lucy didn't say much instead she just walked into Robin's arms and wrapped her arms around her neck, "Hello, father," she mumbled into his shoulder as Robin wrapped his strong arms around her tiny figure and lifted her off the ground. A smile on his face that Marian had never seen before.

Marian with a smile on her face watched as Robin held his daughter for the first time, placing a hand on her stomach Marian knew that keeping Robin from his children wasn't a decision she would make twice.

Robin held out a hand to her and grinning Marian walked towards them and the family embraced for the first time.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Good Wife**

**Chapter Four**

Marian gritted her teeth and did her best not to scream. She knew if she did, it would be his name she would be calling for. The sweat gathered on her brow, tears sprung in her eyes. This was painful. Too painful. It hadn't been like this with Lucy. Lucy's birth had been practically effortless, she'd felt the labour pains in the early morning and Lucy had slipped into the world long before noon. That was not the case now.

They're had been a party, a celebration for the _wondrous _King John's arrival in Nottingham. She was dressed up despite her discomfort, her hair pinned back perfectly, the powders Jane had applied making her complexion dazzle. She looked wonderful in spite of all she was feeling. This pregnancy had not been easy. Matilda said it was all the riding she had done in the early months, taking Lucy to see Robin and pass on the information she had gathered from her oblivious husband, and for the past few months she had been confined to her bed. She had been board out of her skull and she was almost glad when Guy told her they would have to attend a gathering at the castle. She was less glad when she was told the reason.

John was coming.

She'd met the man very few times and even with all of her acting abilities, she found it very difficult to be anywhere near him. He seemed to notice her discomfort, he always commented on it and she always protected herself by playing on his ego, telling him she was just so nervous to be around such a great King.

He always believed her. The fool.

And slowly she'd gotten better at concealing her hatred and disdain but last night when John had inched closer to place a hand on her expanded stomach she recoiled. She couldn't let him touch her. The room had gone silent. John had glared and then, suddenly, she felt the pains.

"My great King," she said doing her best to smile, "You seem to have excited my child by your mere proximity, I do believe I will need my physician."

John beamed, "Good God! I've sent the woman into labour! Just by being close to her! Will I never cease to amaze?" he shouted throwing his hands into the air.

There was a large chorus of "Long Live King John," Marian thought she would be sick and her husband quickly escorted her from the ballroom, John's chant continued. Gisborne wanted her to stay in the castle, give birth there but she wouldn't allow her child to be born with that _man _so close. She lied to Guy of course, said she didn't want to disrupt the King's festivities with her screaming.

Guy didn't want that either. He'd allowed her to return home he'd come with her, at first, sent for Matilda and waited for his son to be born, but by the second night he'd been called back to the castle. Marian was relieved.

"I'll be back soon," he said kissing her forehead before departing. Marian in all of her haziness heard him shout for his horse and then heard the hooves of his horse gallop away. At that point she wasn't sure if she crying from the pain or from the reprieve.

"Now deary," Matilda said, "You can scream for whatever or _whoever _you like."

Matilda knew of course, she was a member of the rebellion; she had the tag that Will Scarlett had made for her tucked into her left sock at all times. She said if she was ever accused of being a traitor to the crown, she would be executed anyway, might as well let people know where her loyalties lied instead of having them wonder after her feet stopped kicking.

"Matilda, why is it taking so long, why is it so painful, it wasn't like this with Lucy?" she cried, fresh tears slipping down her face.

"Well, clearly this baby is going take after his father, he was stubborn to when his time came, have I ever told you that?" she asked as her head disappeared from Marian's view.

Marian tried to smile, but she was so tired she couldn't. She looked around the room as best as she could, there were only three people with her, Matilda, Jane and Theresa, all working for King Richard and Robin Hood. The only people in all of Nottingham that Marian knew she could trust. She tried to smile at them. It was a poor attempt.

Something cold lands on her head, Theresa has pressed a cold compress to it. It was soothing, if even only for the moment. For a brief moment the pain subsides but it returns seconds later and Marian collapses back into her bed and lets out a piercing cry. She barely heard Matilda's voice as she tried to sooth her. She calls for him. And she kept calling, her voice soft and not more then a whisper.

Something wasn't right, she could feel it, she shouldn't be this weak. Something was wrong, really, terribly wrong.

Jane watched as her friend eyes fluttered closed, her breathing heavy and uneven. Jane was no physician but she knew something was wrong, she moved as quickly as she could to Matilda without drawing Marian's attention, but that seemed impossible, her friend was barely conscious.

"What's wrong with her?" she tried to hide the panic in her voice but she could not. Jane had been there since the start, or almost, the second Marian had turned against her husband she had hired a brand new staff for the household. She'd been given two names by Robin who were trustworthy, Jane and Theresa. Both of them had been close to her even since. Marian was their friend and now Jane was scared. She'd never seen the woman look so pale or so weak before.

"A lot," Matilda said sadly, "The babe is in the completely wrong position, and the stress of that is taking its toil on her already weak heart. This is difficult birth, no question, a very difficult birth."

She sounded worried. Jane glanced to Theresa who was wiping the sweat from Marian's brow. Theresa looked like she was about to cry.

Marian called quietly from her bed, "Robin…Robin…Rob…in."

Theresa face scrunched up and she darted from the room. Jane called after her but she did not return. Jane's hands went to her hair. She didn't know what to do know.

"Jane, you listen to me," Matilda said almost harshly, feverishly, "You do not let this girl fall asleep, do you understand? If she falls asleep she may not wake up."

"H-how?" her voice shook.

"Talk to her, about anything."

Jane nodded and she moved next to Marian, clasped her hand and started to talk, about the weather of all things, she commented about how dark the sky was, how bright the moon and then she started to tell her tales that Jane's mother had told her as a young girl.

Marian didn't seem to notice, but she was still conscious, barely, but she was. Jane kept talking even though it didn't seem to be doing any good. The young girl was almost in tears when she heard a pounding on the stairs. She shot up and gasped, was the Master back? Her heart started to beat frantically against her chest. Marian was calling for Robin and in her state there was no way that she would understand to stop.

Jane was shaking when the door burst open and Robin Hood ran into the room and collapsed next to the Marian, clutching the hand Jane had let go of. He kissed it and gently stroked her hair. Jane gasped as Theresa ran into the room, her cheeks flushed red from the riding she had done, she was followed by another woman, with dark skin and dark hair.

"Djaq!" Matilda sounded relieved to see her. The woman crouched down next to Matilda and demanded to know everything that was happening. Matilda explained all the things that had gone wrong, there was a far longer list then what she had told Jane and together the two physicians figured out what to do to save the woman.

Jane hugged Theresa as Robin repeatedly tried to coax Marian back to the real world.

"Marian…Marian, can you hear me? It's Robin, my love, I'm here, I'm here. It's alright, it's all going to be okay now."

Marian's eyes fluttered open, "…Robin?"

"Yes, my love, I'm here." He smiled at her.

"…Not safe…Guy…caught…"

"Shush, its fine I'm too good to get caught." He grinned, or tried to anyway.

"Fool." She muttered.

"Isn't it why you love me," he said kissing her lips softly as Djaq poured a list of different liquids into a small vial.

"Robin, she must drink this, all of it!" Robin took the vial and as gently as he could he raised Marian's head.

"Marian darling you have to drink this, alright? It's for the baby; it's going to make you better."

Robin brought the small vial to Marian's lips; she took a small sip and swallowed with great difficulty. Robin repeated the process until it was empty; it felt like it took hours.

"You did it, see? It's all gone now, you did very well." He said his voice breaking.

"The baby?" she asked.

"Fine, perfectly fine we just have to wait a little longer to see him," Robin said placing a gentle hand on her stomach.

"You want a boy?" she asked softly, her eyes opening and closing.

"I don't care what we have, as long as he or she has ten fingers and toes and your eyes."

"What name shall he have?" she asked, "Richard might draw attention."

Robin laughed lightly, "Just a little bit, we'll think of something, don't worry." He kissed her forehead again.

"Robin," Djaq called, "She's going to have to start pushing,"

"Hard too," Matilda added, "This babe's got to come now!"

"The tonic I gave her should help but you must get her to push." Djaq crouched near Matilda ready to help if she needed it.

Robin nodded, he helped Marian up in the bed and sat behind her, clutching her hands, and he kissed the lobe of her ear and whispered, "You have to push now, Marian, now, okay?"

Marian nodded and she started to push. Hard. Sweat coated her forehead as she gripped Robin's hands as hard as she could. She pushed and when she stopped she fell back into the support of Robin's chest.

"You did really well," he told her, kissing her damp hair.

"Once more, Marian, one more big push!" Matilda said.

"I can't!" Marian muttered.

"Yes, you can," Robin whispered, "You put up with me, you can do anything, now push; push Marian."

She gripped his hands, so hard that Robin was sure one of his fingers was broken, she gritted her teeth and she pushed and pushed and pushed and she didn't stop until she heard the wails of her newborn.

Robin looked up and saw the child in Matilda's arms, tiny arms moving up and down, face scrunched up and her cry pierced through the room. His daughter.

He felt the tears. He didn't stop them.

Marian was lying against his chest, her eyes closed, her breathing finally even, "Look," he said, "She's here, Marian, she's here."

Marian's eyes opened, she was her child, her second daughter, she smiled before exhaustion over took her and she fell asleep in her lovers arms.

**RHRHRHRHRH **

I know I updated it's a soon-to-be-Easter-miracle! Anyway there is chapter four! I hope it was worth the wait. And I hope people are still reading this story! And REVIWEING

So, please click that button and tell me what you thought and if you have any suggestions for Baby Girl Hood please let me know because I have a few and I can't decide.

Lots of love,

Anna.


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